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In Q3, Movemeon worked on twice as many roles as the same period last year. What were the most popular functions this year?
In Q3, Movemeon worked on twice as many roles as the same period last year. This is an accurate representation of the continued growth we are privileged enough to see in 2021. We talk to many hiring managers and candidates looking for their next steps, in various industries and at different seniority levels. In this instalment of our Market Trend Series, we’re taking a look at the most popular functions and job titles on Movemeon this year.
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Globally, the most highly sought-after functions on Movemeon this year are the following:
Of course, strategy will always be the most important function when it comes to recruiting candidates who have some experience in consulting because that is where they excel. Strategy experts are especially wanted in high-growth companies, Private Equity and Venture Capital funds, as well as Boutique Consultancies. But consultants are also highly sought-after to manage a team or a company’s P&L thanks to their exposure to similar projects in their consulting missions. As a result, more junior consultants make for great project and change managers and companies are eager to recruit talent with the consulting toolkit for such positions.
Interestingly, hiring managers in Private Equity and Venture Capital funds, Boutique Consultancies, and in the Public Sector are especially interested in Project & Change Managers. This can be explained by the fact that more and more of these companies are focusing on digitalisation and automation of their processes. 2020 was a real wake-up call for many businesses as they were forced to digitalise their activity to fit the evolution of consumers’ needs, as more and more people relied on online solutions and products while stuck at home.
According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), 39% of employers find themselves with ‘hard-to-fill’ vacancies. Companies in business services are just under this average with 36% of the sector with ‘hard-to-fill’ positions.
While a common long-term solution to this talent shortage is to upskill current staff, when companies need a more immediate fix, they resort to freelancers. Contractors are also the best solution for employers who face uncertainty and need a short-term solution with highly flexible talent.
Candidates with experience in Operations are in high demand in startups in various stages as well as, unsurprisingly, consumer goods organisations. We don’t expect this demand to decrease anytime soon due to the supply chain shock this year. Companies know that, in the future, they will need to take rapid actions when unexpected and sudden changes occur. So companies need to consolidate their Operations and Supply Chain systems to make sure they can deal with any crisis in the face of uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, Brexit or both!
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This year we have posted 13 times more consulting roles than during the whole of 2020. Why is consulting on the rise this year?
Over the past year, we published over 350 roles for consultancies. In fact, we have posted 13 times more advisory roles than during the whole of 2020. At the same time, we’ve also found that 20% of ex-consultants now working in industry are looking to go back into consulting. In this instalment of our Market Trend series, we’re trying to find out why consultancies have been hiring so much more this year.
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Consultancies have always been eager to acquire new talents, but the pandemic has increased their need to get new people fast and in great numbers. Many businesses put their consulting projects on hold out of caution at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. After lockdown, they were able to resume their various projects with consultancies as well as new projects. It's especially the case in high-growth areas such as supply chain, digital strategy and data analytics. These have been the most requested requirements from our consulting clients this year, given the digital shift for businesses and the global population that took place over the pandemic.
This is very logical but the situation that consulting firms are facing at the moment is quite unique. These firms are always cautious to have a perfect employee/project ratio. Therefore they are incredibly vulnerable to talent shortages if they experience a sudden surge in project demands. In just a few months, Movemeon’s work in the consulting space grew from 17% to 40%. This highlights the rapid need firms have for new talent to meet their clients’ demands in the risk of having to turn down work times and times again.
Another strain on firms, and a reason why consulting is in such high demand at the moment, is an overall talent shortage crisis. Many jobs are created and many people leave their current employment, but there aren't enough candidates to fill those vacant positions. Usually, businesses tend to resort to freelancers and/or consultants to quickly compensate for skill shortages. Consultancies can provide experts more readily than businesses can hire a full-time team member. This is especially true now since consulting fees were lowered in the past year. However, clients have high demand in terms of expertise and consultancies need to adapt to these demands. They can no longer sacrifice depth of expertise for readily available teams of generalist consultants. Instead, they need to provide readily available teams of actual experts with the appropriate capability.
This can also explain why we have seen so many boutique consultancies getting in touch with us to hire for their team. They’re building up teams of experts that have the capacity to react swiftly to clients’ demands – whether they’re in a freelance capacity or joining the firm full-time. Over the 350 jobs posted this year in consultancies, nearly 75% were in boutique consultancies and the ratio between permanent and interim positions was roughly proportional. Interestingly, both boutiques and larger firms were mainly looking for Associates and Managers level – consultants ready to hit the ground running in terms of projects, with roughly between 3 to 8 years of previous consulting experience, these seniorities accounted for about 70% of the roles we helped consultancies to hire for in the past year.
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We open our series on 2021 Consulting Trends and share our insights from leaders in consulting firms of all sizes, and consultants themselves.
At Movemeon, we are privileged enough to sit at the intersection of disruption in the consulting industry: Speaking with senior leaders in consulting firms of all sizes, as well as with thousands of ex and current consultants themselves, we see how clients’ needs are evolving, which firms have kept pace with digital transformation, and how delivery mechanisms are changing - all within the context of political and macroeconomic uncertainty.
Request your free copy of 2021 Work & Pay Report, Understanding the Impact of Covid, here.
Over the course of Q4, we will share some of our insights and offer our view on some of the major trends shaping the industry. As 2021 draws to a close, it seems like a great opportunity to reflect on the changes brought on by the pandemic and the solutions consultancies have resorted to, or the measures they may need to take in the future.
Over the past 9 months alone, we saw a surge in demand from consultancies of all kinds on our platform. So much so that we posted 13 times more advisory roles than during the whole of 2020. If you’re interested in finding out why, you can read our latest insights and industry experts' interviews on our website.
Read our whole series below:
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Cover notes are still relevant, here's why and some tips on how to break away from the traditional cover letter.
A quick Google search will show you that the existence of the cover letter or not is constantly put into question. Are cover notes still relevant? Do employers even care about them? In this article we explain why they are still relevant, although at Movemeon we prefer to speak of an elevator pitch, but how you can write an efficient and modern elevator pitch to secure your dream job. We also share some tips to write a perfect CV using consulting skills.
Cover notes are sometimes considered optional. At Movemeon, we don’t think they are - but neither do we like the traditional cover note approach, that's why we speak of elevator pitch rather.
Your elevator pitch is what separates you and your skills from other candidates with basically the same CV. It’s a chance for you to show and tell where you have delivered. For instance, if you have worked on an interim project with a major client, your elevator pitch gives you the space to flesh out your achievements, and why they are relevant for this application.
The cover note is the main way of separating out the strengths of two people’s candidacy – you can use your elevator pitch to show exactly why this experience makes you the best for the role.
It is important to remember that Movemeon is a network of candidates with excellent skills and experience. As one of our members, you have a really strong professional and academic background. It’s also very likely that you have been through some form of consulting experience in your career – maybe you’re still working as a consultant as you read this. You belong to a great community of extremely skilled professionals on Movemeon, but this can also mean that your profile might be similar to other candidates’. The elevator pitch is the main way of separating out the strengths of two people’s candidacy – you can use your elevator pitch to show exactly why this experience makes you the best for the role.
Cover notes help the Movemeon Client Success team to do two things. First of all, we can write a clear summary of your approach in your own words. If we only have a CV to look at, this is more difficult to do because we don’t have your experience, and don’t know how you would describe it and what else you would say about it. An elevator pitch really helps us to come with an initial shortlist of candidates to present to employers.
Second of all, your elevator pitch makes it much easier for us to get you, as a candidate, into the interview process. Think of the elevator pitch as a sales crib sheet, or a selling aid to the client. If a candidate has gone the extra mile for us as a Client Success team to help themselves to really stand out, then it makes our job of presenting that candidate to an employer a lot easier.
A CV can be a very limiting document because it is essentially a list of skills and achievements, so it can be difficult to build a bridge between this document and somebody’s personality.
It really doesn’t need to be a long document for it to be great.
In summary, keep it concise, keep it to the point, keep it lively. And make sure that it's really accurately answering the question. We tend to recommend going for a bullet point model, but there’s nothing wrong with injecting a bit of flair into your writing.
In case of doubt, just focus on what the job wants and what you can bring to it and who you are.
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Endeavour will officially separate from its parent Woolworths Group in July 2021, when it will be Australia's leading retail drinks and hospitality business.
After completing my Bachelor degree in manufacturing engineering, I joined Hershey’s in India, who were also just setting up operations in the sub-continent. I started in candy manufacturing, moved to trade sales and distribution, and then stepped up to manage primary logistics and planning for multiple product categories. Given the early stage of the business, I was exposed to a number of different functions and was able to really get under the skin of the business.
I then pursued a two-year MBA degree at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), which included a summer internship with Amazon in their customer experience and analytics team for North American markets.
After my MBA, management consulting appealed to me as the next career move. I had developed a strong understanding of the FMCG sector, but I was keen to broaden my skills and experience. I joined Deloitte Consulting in their strategy and operations practice in India. The role was truly global, with consultants jetting off to every part of the globe - supporting US-based clients in their local and international operations (air miles and points galore!!).
I spent my first 2.5 years with Deloitte in the US, where I worked across multiple verticals in strategy, M&A and change management. I then spent another 3 years between Japan, Taiwan and India, with retail and consumer product clients.
Then the final piece of the puzzle - moving to Australia! My wife wanted to do an MBA, and decided to study in Sydney at AGSM (UNSW). Again Deloitte supported my move and I worked in Australia on some great projects.
After close to 7 years with Deloitte, I began to think about what my next career step would be. A client-side opportunity with a business in the consumer goods space felt ideal, considering my interest and experience… which is why the opportunity with Endeavour Group on Movemeon was definitely one to explore!
It’s been an incredibly busy time at the Group, but it’s been really enjoyable so far. Not only is the time of year busy, being in the middle of strategy formulation and cascades throughout the business, but we’re getting to the final stages for separation from Woolworths. The team is great, a mixture of ex-consultants and investment bankers, and I am very excited about the next few months, as we establish ourselves as a new entity.
[Endeavour will officially separate from its parent Woolworths Group in July 2021, when it will be Australia's leading retail drinks and hospitality business and an ASX50 company.]
Ideally 3-4 years into consulting, and once you have fine-tuned your consulting 101 skills, it may be worth aligning to a smaller number of industries that you are most passionate about. In my personal experience, potential employers resonated more with experience in a similar industry, rather than functional expertise across multiple industries.
Make sure you work on your own personal “sell story” as part of the application process. Why are you a great fit, based on your skills and experience? Also give the interviewer the confidence that you can jump in and add value straight away. This can be anchored on your familiarity and past experience in a similar industry.
Pete [Asia-Pacific General Manager at Movemeon] invited me to join - I’m glad he did!
Yes. The key is that Movemeon offers a curated experience. The roles are so much more focused and relevant, you know you won’t be wasting time scrolling through a bunch of irrelevant opportunities.
Also you can be confident that the Movemeon team will be supportive throughout the process, compared to a job board where you could apply and then never hear anything again...
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Freelance consulting the pros and cons. Click here for insight into freelance consultants' day rates and how much recruitment agencies take.
You’re coming to the end of a freelance consulting project, it’s been fun – great team, challenging work, key milestones reached. You found the project through a recruitment agency. The client pulls you aside one day and asks if you’d be willing to lower your day rate and extend for some follow-on work. You take a minute, consider the request and push back to say that you’re working at the lowest possible rate…
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You’re crunching the numbers in your head, trying to rationalize the request. Realizing the conversation has taken a slightly awkward turn – to date, it’s only been about project success and Friday beers; not about the money – you muster up the courage and ask the client why you can’t continue at your current day rate. After a brief pause, they say, ‘because every day I keep you on site it’s costing me X, you certainly don’t come cheap!’.
You’re now slightly embarrassed and taken aback by the figure and you suddenly realize what your total cost to the client really is. After a moment to collect your thoughts, you work out that a large portion of that total cost is going to the recruitment agency that placed you. Frankly, you feel a bit robbed.
Unfortunately, the conversation above happens far too often too many of the freelancers I speak to. They often overlook one of the key questions that should be in every freelancer’s arsenal when negotiating day rate – ‘what is the mark-up a recruitment agency is charging on me’? The answer is often a surprise and a shock too many – to hear that a recruitment agency is taking anywhere up to 100% of the value of your day rate for each day you work is not only unfair, but it’s also plain wrong.
Naturally, there is an ongoing facilitation fee for the service a recruitment agent has provided – but, like with so many other areas of recruitment today, the lack of transparency around the total mark-up simply enhances the unease many candidates feel when working through an agency.
That’s why, here at Movemeon, we are insistent on providing full transparency around what our fees are, helping you avoid awkward conversations like the one above! Firstly, through Movemeon, you will negotiate and agree your day rate directly with the client.
There is no middle man involved and Movemeon has no influence. Movemeon then charges a commission which is paid by the employer, rather than being taken off the rate you agreed. So, you get a day rate you’ve negotiated and are happy with.
Everyone knows what’s going on. And the client saves up to 75% compared to the commission paid to recruitment agencies.
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Paul, People Director at Liberty Global explains why a Movemeon subscription was an obvious choice for Liberty Global's hiring needs
Economically, a Movemeon subscription makes complete sense.
Working with Movemeon has further educated us on recruiting for the ex-consulting experience. They have helped refine our selection criteria and the consultancies or projects we should be looking for. We still have a lot of learning to do, but now we have learnt a lot more about what we are looking for and how to attract that skillset.
I give the support received from Movemeon 10/10 - there is nothing else I could have asked for or wanted.
Every CV on Movemeon has something to offer
Email us at info@movemeon.com if you'd like to find out more about our subscriptions
The quality of candidates has been so much higher than we’ve seen after a general push into the market using something like LinkedIn. Movemeon has a bigger pool of relevant candidates; every CV on Movemeon has something to offer.
Also, working with Movemeon is not a selling-type relationship. Because we have an annual subscription, the financial discussion is out of the way. It’s now more about collaboration. Gaby (Client Success Manager for Liberty Global) especially has been incredible - she’s really proactive and always really quick to reply. I had some early trouble with the system, and she was really patient talking through it. Really appreciated!
It’s a product that makes sense to companies that have hiring teams internally.
We looked at what we would pay a recruitment consultant and reckoned if we filled 2-3 roles in 12 months, it’d already paid for itself. So economically, a Movemeon subscription makes complete sense.
When briefing on roles, there was a great blend of listening and asking relevant questions. Recruitment consultants usually either bombard you with yes/no questions or you can tell they aren’t listening because they already have candidates in mind. That doesn’t happen with Movemeon.
Why do so many consultants start successful businesses? Interview with the founders of Qonto, Innovafeed, Hublo, LBF, Simundia and Movemeon
Jumia ($824m), Monzo (£325m), Transferwise ($773m), Funding Circle ($746m), Zopa (£360m), Qonto ($151m), Gocardless (£95m), Jobteaser ($75m), Innovafeed (€55m). Just some of the most well-known and celebrated start-ups. Four have reached unicorn status; the others are hoping to. And they were all founded or co-founded by ex-consultants.
In this article series, we look at why there are so many consultants founding successful businesses. We’d like to start by thanking the following for their time and great insights: Alexandre Prot (Ex-Mckinsey & Qonto founder), Aude Guo (Ex-Mckinsey & Innovafeed founder), Antoine Loron (Ex-Roland Berger & Hublo founder), Martin Pellet (ex-Kearney & LBF founder), Grégoire Schiller (ex-Roland Berger & Simundia founder), and Nick Patterson (ex-McKinsey & Movemeon co-founder).
“Consultants that started with me at McKinsey had two things in common: firstly, they were some of the highest achievers I’ve met; secondly, they didn’t know what they wanted to do.” (Nick)
Consulting attracts high achievers as it is one of the most prestigious careers post-university. This is partly because the brands are so well-known across industries, but also because it is recognised as a career that opens doors.
The combination of high achievement motive, and uncertainty around what you’re looking to do - not a single founder interviewed had entrepreneurship in mind when they joined consulting - means there are a lot of consultants who look to leave after a few years.
Turnover is extremely high in consulting, and whilst some of that is driven by “up or out” policies, the majority of the people leaving do so because they didn’t want to follow the track to Partner. And this is commonly accepted within the business. People can therefore talk openly about leaving, and in return receive great advice that gives you the confidence to launch businesses. Interestingly, both Nick and Alexandre mentioned that consulting gave them the confidence to launch businesses.
Finally, and that’s more an explanation of numbers rather than success, consultants know they have a strong employer brand to fall back on in case it goes wrong. This also means you have some very marketable short-terms skills - the option of freelancing to supplement your income from a new business gives you more liberty to try and start something.
The myth that consultants aren’t do-ers is regularly parroted. However, from what we’ve seen of peers and the consulting alumni community, quite the opposite is true.
In the early days of setting-up Movemeon, the most common challenge we’d hear from potential employers was that they didn’t want to hire consultants. They were concerned that, whilst they were very good at advising, they weren’t good at executing.
We couldn’t agree more on the importance of execution, but the common misconception about consultants not being good at delivery is just that - a misconception. Martin said that the high day rates charged by consultancies (especially strategy houses), and the high standards demanded by boards of large businesses, mean consultants have an obligation to deliver results and have to learn to deliver at pace.
On top of being good do-ers and dealing well with time pressure, consultants are also particularly good at multitasking. Alexandre, in the early days of Qonto, was able to work on strategy, finance, management, marketing and even office management. Antoine also highlighted that in a similar way to consulting, when you’re an early-stage founder you learn by doing.
Being good at multitasking, being good “do-ers”, and working with tight deadlines, it looks like early-stage start-ups have more in common with consulting than what we would have expected.
In the second part of this article - to be released in two weeks - we'll look at the key skills developed in consulting that help you launch and grow a start-up.
We’ve also published an in-depth interview with Innovafeed founder Aude Guo here.
At Movemeon, we connect (ex) consultants and freelancers with job opportunities, advice & events. Register now to view and apply to jobs, for insider advice & networking/industry events.
Why do so many consultants start successful businesses? Part 2 of our interview with the founders of Qonto, Innovafeed, Hublo, LBF, Simundia and Movemeon
Jumia ($824m), Monzo (£325m), Transferwise ($773m), Funding Circle ($746m), Zopa (£360m), Qonto ($151m), Gocardless (£95m), Jobteaser ($75m), Innovafeed (€55m. Just some of the most well-known and celebrated start-ups. Four have reached unicorn status; the others are hoping to. And they were all founded or co-founded by ex-consultants.
In part 2 of our article series, we look at the way some of the key skills developed as a consultants help with founding successful businesses. We’d like to start by thanking the following for their time and great insights: Alexandre Prot (Ex-Mckinsey & Qonto founder), Aude Guo (Ex-Mckinsey & Innovafeed founder), Antoine Loron (Ex-Roland Berger & Hublo founder), Martin Pellet (ex-Kearney & LBF founder), Grégoire Schiller (ex-Roland Berger & Simundia founder), and Nick Patterson (ex-McKinsey & Movemeon co-founder).
Movemeon was founded by two Mckinsey consultants, and therefore our work as a team has been influenced by strategy consulting. Problem solving and prioritisation are omnipresent in our day-to-day.
Those two skills are central to consulting work. Diagnosing issues (issue trees, driver trees) and using data to prioritise execution are the central aims of any consulting project.
Alexandre said that his consultant background helped him to structure his reasoning to tackle any complex problem. Aude and Martin agreed on this point: in an early-stage start-up you keep resolving problems, such as how am I gonna finance this project? What type of offices should we choose? More generally, how do you do things efficiently?
Grégoire highlighted that consulting gives you the structure to effectively prioritise using concepts like 80/20. Aude defined the ability to prioritise as hugely important. She said “It’s mostly about what you don’t do, not what you do. You need clear criteria to make decisions (not only for yourself but also understandable and acceptable to others; and something that is engaging).”
If the network is a pretty obvious benefit of consulting, it's surprising how often effective communication has been described as a key skill learnt from consulting.
Consultancies have unparalleled alumni networks. There is a shared brand that means people are prepared to not only meet, but give you advice, too. This is invaluable in the early days, as you look to further develop your idea and, perhaps more importantly, make your first few sales (if your product is B2B). Grégoire remembers using Roland Berger’s network for closing first clients. Unlike business schools, consulting networks are usually more senior than you and therefore unlock way more opportunities when you’re an early-stage founder.
Working with senior people in consulting trains you in effective communication. Aude said “communication is key, as 80-90% of the time being a founder is about aligning people and getting to the point quickly. Our business has people of very different professional backgrounds and needs; you need to quickly understand and address what is important for each person in a way that is relevant for them to get them on board: how do you convey the real message (get to the point)? It’s about not spending one hour on a topic if it can require only 3 minutes.“
Related to communication, stakeholders management is a key skill developed in consulting. You need to be able to communicate in the right way with everyone: investors, clients, suppliers.
Consulting and entrepreneurship are still obviously two really different worlds. Grégoire empahsised that you have to unlearn consulting to do entrepreneurship as the way you make decisions can be very different. Nevertheless, consulting is undoubtedly a great training ground for entrepreneurship.
It trains you in many key skills needed by early-stage founders: communication, stakeholder management, prioritisation & problem solving. Having worked with 100+ start-ups, mostly founded by ex-consultant, in the last 2 years, and helping to fill roles like Director of Sales Operations for 360Learning, Country Manager for Hublo, Head of Partnerships for Luko, it's clear that consultants are a great fit for start-ups. Speaking to Alexandre, Aude, Antoine, Grégoire and Nick only reinforced that the transferable skills you get from consulting are essential for start-up success.
How does being a consultant naturally lead many to founding their own start-ups? We looked at this question in Part 1 of this series
We've also published an in-depth interview with Innovafeed founder Aude Guo here
Qonto founder Alexandre Prot spoke to us about Qonto & how he uses his consulting experience here
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